An Unissued Statement[1]

Written:Written on November 14 (27), 1903Published:First published in 1928 inLenin Miscellany VII.

      Published according to the manuscript.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      publisher??,pubdate??,

      Moscow,Volume 7,

      page114.Translated:Fineberg AbrahamTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaandD. WaltersCopyleft:V. I. Lenin Internet Archive (www.marxists.org)
      © 2002

      Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the
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TheCentral Committee of the R.S.D.L.P., meeting in Geneva on November
      27, 1903, unanimously adopted the following decision.

ComradePlekhanov’s co-optation of the Martovites to the
      editorial board constitutes outright defection on his part to
      the side of the Party Congress minority, a minority that
      Plekhanov himself more than once publicly character ised as
      inclining towards opportunism and anarchism. From the minutes of
      the Party Congress and the Congress of the League this will be
      seen quite clearly. This defection is a direct violation of the
      will of the Party Congress under the influence of the League
      Abeoad and in defiance of the emphatically stated decision of
      the majority of the Party committees in Russia. The Central
      Committee cannot allow such a violation of the will of the
      Congress, particularly since in taking advantage of Comrade
      Lenin’s resignation to commit this act, Comrade Plekhanov was
      guilty of a direct breach of trust; for Comrade Lenin resigned
      on cer tain conditions, in the interests of peace and good will
      in the Party, whereas the Martovites, by turning down the
      Central Committee’s ultimatum of

      November

 25,[2]rejected peace
      and
      thereby declared war.

TheCentral Committee therefore, by revolutionary ac tion, takes the
      Party Central Organ into its own hands and declares that it will do
      everything in its power to secure that the will of the Party as a
      whole, not the will of the League Abroad or the treachery of an
      individual, shall determine the Party’s future.

Central Committee

[1]ThisUnissued Statementwas proposed by Lenin as a decision of the
      Central Committee at a meeting of the latter on November 14 (27), 1903. It
      was not adopted because of the conciliationist attitude of some of the
      Central Committee members towards the Mensheviks.

[2]The Central Committee’s ultimatumto the Mensheviks was present ed
      on November 12 (25), 1903. On October 22 (November 4) Lenin had sent the
      Central Committee a letter (present edition, Vol. 34) in which he proposed
      offering the Mensheviks the following conditions:

1)co-optation of three of the ex-editors to the editorial board of the Central
      Organ;

2)re-establishment of the status quo in the League Abroad;

3)allowing the Mensheviks one seat on the Party Council.

Theseinitial conditions did not meet with the support of the con ciliationist
      members of the Central Committee. In the same letter Lenin outlined and
      proposed simultaneously approving but not yet presenting to the Mensheviks
      the main points of an ultimatum, that is, a statement of the practical
      concessions the Central Com mittee could permissibly make to them: 1)
      co-optation of the four ox-editors to the editorial board; 2) co-optation to
      the Cantral Committee of two members of the opposition, to be chosen by the
      Central Committee itself; 3) re-establishment of the status quo in the
      League; 4) allowing the Mensheviks one seat on the Party Council. “If
      the ultimatum is rejected," Lenin wrote, “then—war to a
      finish. An extra condition: 5) cessation of all talk, gossip, and arguments
      about the dissensions at the Second Party Congress and after." These
      proposals of Lenin’s (except the extra condition) were includ ed in the
      ultimatum of November 12 (25), but were toned down somewhat by the
      conciliationist members of the Central Committee.

TheMensheviks, whom Plekhanov helped greatly by co-opting all the ox-editors to
      the editorial hoard the day after the Central Committee’s ultimatum,
      rejected the ultimatum and took the way of open war against the majority of
      the Party.

Anevaluation of the Central Committee’s ultimatum is given by Lenin inOne Step Forward, Two Steps Back(pp. 375-77 of this
    volume).